Help. I've lost faith in hard soaps

[Comisama]

I guess I would still be considered new to wet shaving, since I have only switched over to this awesome ritual half a year ago. I love wet shaving, however, I have never spent big buck on my shaving gear; I have only recently purchased my second DE razor. I own a few soaps, some of which include Proraso Cream, TOB Cream, and RazoRock XXX (Croap?). Here is my problem. I am scared to try any new hard soaps, for the only hard soap I have is this BebeLush shaving soap. I have not had any good experiences with it, it does not provide enough glide and it dissipates before I finish my shave. I got it due to the good reviews on Amazon, but this was not the case for me. Do any of you have any hard soap suggestions? I am tired of making investments in things that won't do me good. In the mean time, I am glad to pass this soap on to someone else that might have better luck with it. Maybe its just that I have dry sky

 

[paintflinger]

Judging all hard soaps based off of a single use of Bebe would be a poor mistake (bebe is not a great soap). Plenty of fantastic hard soaps out there.

Valobra
Ballinger
DR Harris
Pre de Provence
Old AOS
Czech and Speaks

Many others

 

[JaredB]

Just buy yourself a puck of Arko. Mix it WET and sloppy. You'll have so much lather you could shave a buffalo, and you'll forget you ever had a worry.

 

[Comisama]

Thank you for all the suggestions

 

[mikewood]

I don't know bebelush but the name is not convincing me... The thing about lather is its soap water and air. Adding air takes time. Usually 45-60 seconds. So. Soak your brush for a minute. Let it drip dry and Now scrub your puck with your brush and build up some soap in it. Maybe 10-15 seconds. Then start adding water a bit at a time to a bowl and whip it up. When it builds up into Nice fluffy whipped cream you know you are done.


You can also take your puck of "hard" soap and add some water to it to soften it and let it sit 24 hours. Repeat and In a week it will soften like croap.

 

[bobmsp]

Haslinger - particularly Schafmilch - is a great soap that is reasonably priced.

 

[nwohio]

I have that same BebeLush shaving soap and I don't care for it either. Try some Saponificio Varesino. They have 4-5 scents and they are all excellent. Do a search and read the reviews. Very easy to lather and very slick. Bullgoose Shaving and the Italian Barber carry them. They are hard milled vegan soaps and you will be very pleased.

 

[timetofly]

Just buy yourself a puck of Arko. Mix it WET and sloppy. You'll have so much lather you could shave a buffalo, and you'll forget you ever had a worry.

 

[FoolishMortal]

Never heard of it.

Easy-peasy (and excellent) starting soap would be Stirling or Chiseled Face Groomatorium, though they fall into the "soft(er) soaps" category. If you're talking about a triple-milled hard soap, you might try DR Harris.

 

[(DE NH)]

I agree with the above. Don't judge all just by that one experience. The other thing you could try is changing up your technique. The way you describe it sounds as through you might benefit from loading more product and really building a good lather. Start with a really heavy load (75 swirls) and then slowly add water. Once you find a consistency you like you can dial back on the load or up on the water till it feels appropriate. That's how I tend to approach all my new soaps till I get a good feel for them.

 

[FoolishMortal]

Fair point above. For me, I wasn't thrilled with hard soaps until I started face-lathering. That changed everything!

 

[(DE NH)]

Fair point above. For me, I wasn't thrilled with hard soaps until I started face-lathering. That changed everything!

Agreed. I find that since hard soaps take longer to come together I prefer a face lather. Maybe it's just me but bowls and mugs take longer because of the smooth surface.

 

[UncleMush]

La Toja stick is hard, and is extremely easy to lather. Additionally, it has one of the best scents of any soap in existence.

 

[kiwimike]

Tabac is an excellent hard soap. Load for 20 sec, face lather, and be sure to use plenty of water until you get shiny, wet, goopy lather.

 

[BSAGuy]

Just practice. Remember, it is only soap and this is only shaving. Enjoy experimenting. Make some practice lathers at times when you aren't shaving.

 

[Guitar10]

Water is the key, all the hard soap that i have i bloom the puck in hot tap water fo at least 5 to 15 min befor the shave. What i mean is soak the puck in hot tap water it work for me. Some kind of soap like MWF and WMS( Mitchel's Wool Fat and Williams Mug Soap) needs to be soak a full night in water when the puck is new. I found that some hard soap are kind of thirsty and some less, you have to experiment whit your soaps. I also found that when the lather dissipate it means that your lather needs some water, ading a bit of the time when you mix it and you get good results and also good slikness. Gino

 

[fightingillini22]

Just practice. Remember, it is only soap and this is only shaving. Enjoy experimenting. Make some practice lathers at times when you aren't shaving.

Sage advice. Don't over think it. Practice makes perfect which is why I enjoy 3017 my soaps and really dialing them in.

 

[Musikmann]

Already mentioned but D.R. Harris is as good as, and better than most, of what I have.

 

[Shiloh]

All excellent advice.

I have the same Bebelush soap. It's not the best soap in my rotation, but I use it occasionally. My first attempts with it were problematic. But I found, for me, the solution was to pre-soak it with very warm water for about 10 minutes or so (e.g. while showering). It's a decent soap...pretty slick and I like the fragrance (especially on a hot day...I find it cooling)...give it another chance.

That said, there are way better soaps out there!

I use soaps exclusively, and I have found that each soap has slightly different requirements and variations on my basic technique (see below) -- and those requirement can change slightly from use to use (not sure why...operator error, humidity, moon phase, etc.)

Here is my basic technique for all hard soaps:

1) pre-soak the soap with warm water for 10-15 minutes
2) pour off all the pre-soak water
3) squeeze all the water out of the brush and shake 1-2 times (NOTE: I use best badger brushes exclusively, and I soak them for about 5 minutes)
4) load the brush heavily -- for at least a minute (I don't time it...I use the time it takes for my sink to fill...+/-). The soap on the brush is not a lather...more a wet paste.
5) start face-lathering (NOTE: I have always face-lathered...I will leave bowl-lathering advice to others). The soap will feel thick and a little "sticky"
6) add water to the brush, 1-2 drops at a time, and continue to face lather pretty vigorously. Repeat as required until you get the slickness you need: there should be no resistance to the brush as you swirl it in the lather on your face.
7) use the brush to smooth over the lather, to make sure you have a good uniform layer of that goodness all over.
8) shave on!

When I do this...the proper lather is very slick, with no visible bubbles ("yogurty" is a good descriptor).

My first attempts with Bebelush never achieved the yogurty state...watery lather prevailed. Then -- after a good pre-soak and heavy loading, I am able to dial in a good lather with the gradual addition of water described above.

My "first team" hard soaps are Tabac (very easy to get great lather), Mitchell's Woof Fat (just amazing stuff), and DR Harris (new to me). All perform like champs with this method.

HTH...

 

[Tim_McD]

Already mentioned but D.R. Harris is as good as, and better than most, of what I have.

Since you mentioned Amazon, do yourself a favor and pick up a triple milled puck of bulletproof goodness:

DR Harris Marlborough: $13.05 shipped

DR Harris Windsor: $20.10 shipped

Go forth and sin no more, my son